One of my 6 loach is looking unwell. 3 days ago I saw her almost completely pale radiating from her stomach area and swimming erratically. My reasoning for calling her a she is up until she went pale she had visible green on her stomach and this lead me to think she may have been on the way to eggbound. Over the past 3 days she has stopped erratically swim and colored back up but she is still sitting in the light more than usual.
My tank has been cycled for 3 months and kuhli in for 1-2 months added in groups of 3. Current parameters are 0-0-0 and my tank is a heavily planted 70L with a low bioload relative to size, I will add a picture below(: she is the only loach displaying unsual behaviour in my group. Happy to answer any other questions to help understand!
Posted by Illustrious_Big9509
3 Comments
https://preview.redd.it/jx094rwuu5qg1.jpeg?width=4096&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8575f94d343d47d4178f3de02a70ad665d951bb8
Sitting in the light more than usual is a bit of a red flag though, loaches are shy and usually avoid bright spots when they’re feeling off.
Since your params are 0-0-0 and the tank is well established, it’s probably not a water quality thing. Could be that she is still recovering from being eggbound (even if she didn’t fully pass them).
Possibly an early internal parasite, which is especially common in loaches. It could be just stress from whatever she went through.
Keep a close eye on her eating and movement over the next few days. If she keeps hugging the light or acting lethargic, a broad-spectrum treatment like Praziquantel or Levamisole could be worth considering. Hope Fettuccine pulls through. 🙏
First I’m not an expert. From my knowledge of them they like well oxigenated water. I got 11 of them and in my tank I’m using two outleted strong airpump. And I put two or three catappa leaves always. They are so sensitive for medications so I don’t know if there is any treatments for them